Utwe (or Utwa) is the second-largest

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the Micronesian state of

Kosrae Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Federated States of Micronesia. The State of Kosrae is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, and includes the main island of Kosrae and a few near ...

, the largest being

Tafunsak Tafunsak (formerly transliterated as Tahfuhnsahk) is the largest settlement on the island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia. Its population was 2,457 at the 2000 census. This includes Walung, which had been incorporated into the mun ...

Geography

Utwe occupies the very South of the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

, but has no

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

on its East border. In 1994 the total population of Utwe was 1,056. Utwe's

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

is Utwa Ma (Utwe Village).

Utwe-Walung Marine Park

Utwe is home to the Utwe-Walung Marine Park, a conservation area established by Madison Nena, a local ecologist who has won several awards, including the 1999

Seacology Seacology is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization headquartered in Berkeley, California, that works to preserve island ecosystems and cultures around the world. Founded in 1991, it began with the work of ethnobotanist Paul Alan Cox, ...

Prize, awarded annually to an indigenous islander for outstanding achievement in preserving the environment and culture of any of the world's more than 100,000 islands. In the late 1990s, Madison Nena successfully led a campaign to prevent property developers from building a tourist complex without adequate sewage facilities, and in its place he founded an eco-tourism initiative at Kosrae Village Resort. He has also worked with island elders to revitalize historic methods of Kosraean house construction. The park features excellent examples of healthy hard coral, as well as some of Micronesia's most pristine forests and extensive mangrove ecosystems. The park's main office is close to the shipwreck site of the infamous pirate trader

Bully Hayes William Henry "Bully" Hayes (1827 or 1829 – 31 March 1877) was a notorious American ship's captain who engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s.James A. Michener & A. Grove Day, ''Bully Hayes, South Sea Buccaneer'', in ''Rascals in Parad ...

, and it is rumored that Hayes buried some treasure somewhere in the forest.

Education

Kosrae State Department of Education Kosrae State Department of Education (KDOE) is an agency of Kosrae State, Federated States of Micronesia that operates public schools. It is headquartered in Tofol.

operates Utwe Elementary School. High school students attend

Kosrae High School Kosrae High School (KHS) is a secondary school in Tofol, Lelu municipality, Kosrae State, Federated States of Micronesia. It is a part of the Kosrae State Department of Education and is the island's sole high school.Tofol Tofol village in Lelu Town municipality is the capital of the state of Kosrae in Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural ...

Lelu municipality Lelu or Lelu Town is a municipality of the state of Kosrae, in the Federated States of Micronesia. The municipality of Lelu consists of Lelu Island (a small satellite island of Kosrae Island) and a big part of the northeastern portion of Kosrae ...

.Schools
"

. Retrieved on February 23, 2018.

Climate

Utwe has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(Af) with very heavy rainfall year-round.

Notable people

Adelyn Noda Adelyn Noda ( Benjamin; born 5 October 1950) is a former teacher from Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia. In 1983, she became the youngest women from Kosrae to be ordained as a deaconess. Biography She was born on 5 October 1950 in Mal ...

- teacher and deaconess.

References

Maps

General Soil Map of Kosrae produced by the US Department of Agriculture

External links

Article on Utwe-Walung Marine Park in Pacific magazine

*
Seacology official website
Biosphere reserves of Micronesia Municipalities of Kosrae {{Micronesia-geo-stub